• The explosion happened at a gas station on the edge of the village of Creeslough.
• Search and recovery efforts are still going on. Prime Minister Micheál Martin called it a tragedy for a small town of only a few hundred people.
• A local Sinn Fein lawmaker said at the scene on Friday that the “massive explosion” was heard from miles around.

Irish police said on Saturday that at least nine people died in an explosion at a gas station in the county of Donegal. Search and recovery efforts are still going on.

The explosion happened at the Applegreen gas station on the edge of the village of Creeslough just after 3 p.m. local time (1400 GMT). Saturday morning, police said that eight more people were in hospitals getting care. They haven’t said anything about what caused the blast.

Photos taken at the scene showed a home above the gas station store with blown-out walls and a partially collapsed roof, as well as debris all over the parking lot where cars were parked. go to site

A police statement said, “The search and recovery for more bodies is still going on.”

Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin called it a tragedy for a small town of only a few hundred people.

“People across this island will be numbed by the same sense of shock and utter devastation as the people of Creeslough at this tragic loss of life,” Martin said in a statement late on Friday.

“I wish to express my deepest sympathies to their family, and friends, and to the entire community of Creeslough, on this darkest of days for Donegal and the entire country.”

Local Sinn Fein lawmaker Pearse Doherty said at the scene on Friday that the “massive explosion” was heard from miles around and hours later people were still trapped inside the building with some making contact with the emergency services outside.

He said that the gas station was the only grocery store in the village. It also had a post office and a hair salon, so it would have been very busy on a Friday after school let out.

The Irish Coast Guard said that a nearby helicopter helped the emergency services, and a rescue team from Northern Ireland was sent to the scene.

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